Finally a game that you can write home about.  The Kyle Korver-infused Jazz beat the Trailblazers, 113-101, putting a winning end to a terrible month and ending Portland’s winning streak. 

The Jazz bucked their trends that had been the cause of their December slump.  With Korver coming off the bench in the second, he left no doubt that he was a shooter, letting it fly on his first touch.  And even though that was a miss, a rebound a kickout back to Korver led to his first three as a Jazz man.  His energy seemed to give the Jazz what they needed as Utah outscored Portland 29-21 in the quarter.

And with Korver getting some crunch-time minutes, the Jazz were able to pull away in the third and put it away in the fourth.  That’s something that they haven’t been doing lately to say the least.

It was a great well-rounded game with no one over 20 points, but six players in double digits.  Millsap had starter’s minutes and scored 14.  Williams and Boozer had their usual 18 & 19.  And AK had another near triple-double with 14 points, 7 assists, and 8 boards.

Complete Box Score

It appears as if CJ and Brewer are going to be the ones losing out on minutes if tonight’s any indication.  CJ had 12 and Ronnie had 18.  But KK, who wasn’t suppose to play many minutes had 18 himself and looked really comfortable out there.  Okur was on the bench for most of the fourth as well, ending with only 21 minutes.  I think Sloan will go with whoever has the hot hand and who’s playing well.  And because Portland didn’t really have a center playing in the fourth, Jerry could keep him on the bench.

And all of this came in spite of Aldridge’s career night.  He finished with 36 points on 12-17 shooting and 12-14 from the line.  He couldn’t miss all night.  But he did miss a couple down the stretch and for that the Jazz were able to capitalize.  Roy had a solid night but was limited with foul trouble and we didn’t have Webster go off on us.

But we get to do it all again come Saturday when the Jazz head up to Portland.  And of course before then is the return of Giri to the ESA.  I can’t imagine him being too much of a factor because he probably won’t be used too much.  Although he will be one of the only shooter Philly has.  And as of now, he’s played well in their game vs. Seattle.

So we’ll see how long the KK euphoria lasts.  But if he keeps playing like he did, Fess just may lose his spot as fan favorite.

The breaks and rolls finally started going Utah’s way.  When it seemed like every shot rimmed out in the first quarter, they started falling in the second half.  So here’s to a good start to 2008 and getting back on track.  I’ll wait a few more games before calling this win a sign of things to come.

Other notes:

• In a pre-game interview, getting calls from players in the league wishing him luck and telling him how good of a fit this was for him.  Amongst those he mentioned were Webber and Wade.  I didn’t realize KK was in his five.
• Huge free-throw discrepancy again.  43-27 for Portland.  And it wasn’t really that close because Portland fouled in the final minute.
• Booner quote of the night, “I’m worried about the fans getting on the refs.” 
• Was that Almond behind the bench?  I don’t recall seeing him getting called up.  Him and Fess were there.  Maybe they were just there to watch.
• Jim Clark really seemed to have it in for the Jazz.  Aldridge got a huge amount of calls from him.  And how does he get away with swiping away the defender’s arm every time?

Video

• Kirilenko Interview
• Korver Interview
• ESPN

  Happy to have something new to write about, the local writers give us a cornucopia of Kyle Korver stories to feast on while we wait for his first game tonight against the Blazers.  Somehow I think we’ll hear more about his his family being preachers than we did about Brewer’s odd jump shot or Fesenko’s driving history.

But there are also some other views which I’ll list here:

• George Karl isn’t happy with the Korver trade - Maybe he though we should have kept Koby?  There was also a rumor that SA & Miami wanted KK as well.  Couldn’t find anything to back that up though.
• R-E-S-P-E-C-T - Giri got none
• Some were fine with letting KK go.
• You stay classy Kyle - The amazing thing with this story is that the author has been with the paper for 23 years and it’s taken that long to become the 76ers beat writer?  Youch.  I don’t know that I could stick it out that long.  I’ve only been on the gig for 9 months and I’ve been the beat writer for BBJ all nine months.
• Stick it in the L? - Should I know what this means?
• Via HoopsWorld -

And your Jazz links not mentioning KK or Giri:

• LA HOF for Karl
• Who’s the Mailman going to endorse?
• Is Portland going to counter after Utah’s move?

All right, not much going on outside of KK news.  But of course we have a ginormous game tonight against the Blazers.  They come in winning their last 13 and having taken the Jazz behind the woodshed twice along the way.

The two keys are going to be finishing the fourth and for Memo to start shooting like he’s paid.  Shooters shoot and I can’t understand for the life of me how he’s having such a hug statistical aberration this year.  The addition of KK may be able cover up some of that from the outside, but with Memo getting the crunch-time minutes, it’s going to come down to him making shots.  We all know he doesn’t rebound or block shots (although he did have a nice one against Boston), so he better start making up for it on the offensive end.

Let’s hope KK makes the Portland zone pay.

Opponent Blog:

When Memo’s heave with about 5 minutes to go went in, I thought, the Jazz have this game.  Things were finally looking like they were going Utah’s way.  But it wasn’t meant to be as Boston had their way inside all night and that Jazz couldn’t pull down defensive rebounds when they needed them most.  And with Pierce being unstoppable in the second half, the Jazz would have had to play perfect ball to some out on top.  Neither Miles, Brewer, and of course Harpring could shut him down.  And all of this came after he had 0 points and 0 boards in the first half.  I’m a big Sloan supporter, but why he left Harp on him for so long baffles me.  Would AK have made a difference here?  Probably.  But the Jazz were still only one or two stops away from winning this game.

But the back-breaker for the game was Allen’s off-balance, running three pointer as the shot clock expired.  It put the Celtics up three and the Jazz had to play catchup the rest of the way.

Probably what did the Jazz in was the sloppy beginning to the fourth quarter.  I haven’t seen so many fluffy passes, including two back-to-back by Williams.

Memo again hit some big shots, including the aforementioned desperation heave, but he was still only 4-14.  Okur is the key to getting the Jazz back winning again.

So now the Jazz sit at .500 and face a very real chance of going under that when they face Portland Monday night.  Of course Portland has owned us this year and they just wrapped up their 13th straight victory.  Facing their stifling zone may have gotten just a bit easier with Korver now being able to stretch the defense just a bit.

A win against Portland would probably do more for the Jazz psyche than a win over the Celtics would have.  They play them in two of their three next games.

So once again, who’s going to step up and lead the team out of this hole?  Is there anyone who’s going to say enough is enough, put the team on their back, and win a couple games in a row?

Other notes:

• Speaking of veteran leadership, why isn’t Harp more vocal?  He’s one of the vets that is kept around but I don’t seem to think he’s a capable leader.
• It was amusing to see the Celtics players that aren’t in the regular 6-7 man rotation act like they actually have something to contribute to the team.  They were standing and high-fiving the whole night.
• I like it when they just let them play, but what was it going to take to get an over-the-back call?
• Overall, a great offensive output against the best D in the league
• If Eddie was coaching the Celtics right now, would anyone notice?  See, having three HOFers can compensate for an incompetent coach.

Welcome to the first precap (Preview/Recap) of the year.  After the Jazz were down 75-48 at the half last night against the Lakers, I turned off the TV and went to bed.  It was one of the ugliest things I have ever seen.  It reminded me of game 5 against the Spurs last year.  There was nothing from the start and the Jazz were rattled early and couldn’t recover.

It’s to the point now where if we do make the playoffs, we should just forfeit all road games and save ourselves the trouble and expense of traveling.  Now if somehow we could get a second franchise in Utah and spilt time at the ESA like the LA teams do, and square off against them in the first round, we might have a chance.  And after we pulled off the Giricek trade today, if we could somehow send Harping and Collins to someone for a veteran big man, we might get back on track.

Now we have the Celtics coming to town.  The good news is that we’re at home.  The bad news is that it’s the Celtics, the best team in the league right now.  They have the three vets in KG, Pierce, and Allen who can get their shots and can get the calls.  They also allow the least PPG in the league.

Allen and Pierce scare the crap out of me because I can see both of them camping on the three point line and firing away all night.  I wonder if we’ll see a lot of zone to try to take that away.  Of course that leave KG free on the inside.

Which team will show up tonight for the Jazz?  A win would be a ginormous boost and a loss could very well put us near rock bottom.

Celtics Blog

That’s what you get when you step away from the computer for a few hours, KOC goes and pulls a trade behind your back.

Earlier this morning, the Jazz finally found a suitor for Giricek and sent him and a future conditional first-round pick for Kyle Korver.  The Jazz get rid of Gordan and the Sixers free up some cap space for next year.  There weren’t any details on the pick traded, but it probably won’t end up being a high pick, and if it is, it’s probably top 5-10 protected.

This is one of the trades that works out for all involved.  Gordan gets to start over and be a viable option coming off their bench.  He’ll be able to play for a contract next year in the NBA or overseas.  And of course he’ll finally be able to move out of Jerry’s doghouse and not have to worry about being yanked.

I was going to say that Korver would be moving to a contender, but I couldn’t really back that up with anything lately.  But he should add a deep threat for the Jazz who rank last in almost every three-point category.  We should be able to see him shoot as he comes in with the second team.  He’s only shooting 35% from behind the line this year after coming back from a groin injury.  But he is a lifetime 40% shooter and so hopefully we’ll see that from him.  And we got the league’s free-throw percentage leader.  Maybe we’ll have someone down the stretch that can hit some?  91.4%.  I don’t remember having any players on the team that shot that high.

My overall reaction is that this is a good-very good trade.  The draft pick hurts a bit, but the Jazz aren’t likely to have a high pick for the foreseeable future barring a catastrophe.  But we had to get rid of Gordan.  It was becoming a distraction and it was obvious Giricek wasn’t going to be part of the plan anymore.  So now we have a three that can shoot the three.  One question is whether Korver will knock Harpring out of the regular rotation.  Let’s hope so.  He’s got a better shot and we all know he has to be a better defender by virtue of being able put one foot in front of the other.  He’s also been getting about 30 minutes with the Sixers.  That would probably drop to about 20 minutes I would guess with the Jazz.  With his contract, that’s pretty expensive.  And he’s not quite the veteran presence I wish we had, but it’s a step in the right direction.

We won’t see Korver tonight against the Celtics.  That should give him plenty of time to come to the SLC, see the lights at Temple Square, catch a handsome cab ride, and get his hair done.

And don’t worry Giricek lovers, you’ll see him soon enough as the Sixers return to Utah on the 2nd.  How does that always happen?  Whether it’s in basketball, baseball, football, whatever, if you’re traded to another team, you’re guaranteed to play your old team within a couple days.

Fan Reactions: JazzFanz, SlTrib, ESPN - Great quote from someone, “Korver is a stand up guy and the city of Utah will love him.”  I’m sure the rest of the state of Salt Lake will like him as well.

Other reactions:

• ReclinerGM
• Luhmmy
• HoopsVibe
• InsideHoops

So I’m obviously writing about the wrong thing.  After mentioning that Julianne Hough was in attendance at the Jazz game I attended, I got the third highest number of hits in a day for this site (the highest still being from you Abbot [let’s see if he really does read this site]):

So I need to start up a website called isawjulianne.com and stalk her when she’s in SLC.  Because it looks like I’m doing it wrong.

• Speaking of doing it wrong, here’s a list of all the coaches that have coached in the NBA since Sloan has been at the helm.
• The second returns are in and Deron’s not even in the top ten for guards.  What are the Jazz doing to market him more?  And mark this date down, Feb 4th.  New Orleans comes to the ESA.  The All-star starters will have been named and the reserves will have just been announced.  If Deron’s not on that list, I want to see him destroy CP3.
• Boozer should be an All-star this year.
• See you Fess. - Although the next time we see you, it will be for good.
• Poor KOC - When you’re brought on as GM, does being a referee for fights between your players and head coach get put in the job description?  Interesting that he compared the situation to Amaechi’s as well.
• Kenny Smith’s New Year’s resolutions for each team
• Another way that blogs are taking over - I like having the full raw audio/video from coaches interviews and shoot-arounds.  That’s why I posted mine from the Revue.  But with the way things are now, fans are clamoring to get any information they can.  We shouldn’t have to settle for random quotes because reporters only have a 3 minute segment or 1500 word limit.  They’re great in that they go along with the articles/segments, but I think most fans would be interested in everything that’s said.  Old media better start changing quick.

Ross Siler just reported that Gordan Giricek has been reinstated with the Jazz.  I thought he wasn’t suspended though?

So how this will play out in anyone’s guess.  With Brewer and CJ playing well, Giri will be hard-pressed for minutes.

But the Jazz may want to showcase him to build up his trade value.  I’m sure KOC had some offers but I’m sure there wasn’t much out there now.

This whole thing has reminded me of the Amaechi scenario from several years back.  “The Man in the Middle” claimed that he was benched and shipped out of Utah because Sloan found out that he was gay.  I’m not saying that Giri is gay (the man-bag doesn’t help though), but could there be some kind of personal lifestyle that Giri lives that Sloan doesn’t like?

But if he keeps looking for his own shots to build up his numbers in a contract year, then I’m all for shipping him out sooner than later.

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UPDATE: Welcome Dancing with the Stars fans. Although this probably isn’t the type of blog you’re into, enjoy the Hough sighting. I would have got some more pictures, but alas, I was in the nosebleeds and she had floor seats. Continue your stalking…

To reciprocate, how about clicking here to vote for Deron Williams & Carlos Boozer for the NBA All-star team

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There’s nothing like a good stomach flu to suck out your will to live. That mixed with Christmas hosting duties didn’t let me finish the lame 10 days of Christmas like I wanted to. Here are the last two. I’ll I’m going to be able to do is link to what I wrote when they happened. Those that are disappointed can apply for a refund by hitting alt-F4.

• Derek Fisher Leaving - This probably had the biggest effect on the Jazz this year.
• AK wants out - Who knew that this would turn into the biggest non-story of the year? Other related AK articles here.

So now that that’s caught up, let’s get back to recaps, videos, and other news.

Having got some tickets to the Mavs game for Christmas, I was seriously bummed at possibly not being able to go due to the aforementioned stomach flu. But I thought, if Jordan can drop 38 in 1997’s game 5 at the Delta Center, then I can certainly sit my can in section 117 for a Jazz win.

Well, as a result, the Jazz record with me in attendance got pushed to 6-0. I’m guessing it will have to get closer to about 20-0 before I start hearing offers from the Jazz to give me free season tickets.

It was without a doubt the best defensive game of the season for the Jazz. That might not be backed up statistically, but from the games I’ve seen, it was the best they’ve looked. And you can look no further than the 16-0 run to start the game. They had their hands in everything and turned it into 18 turnovers for the game.

And even though he didn’t have a good night shooting percentage-wise, Memo drained a couple shots late in the fourth to hold off the Mavs. The past ten or so games (that he’s been playing in) those haven’t been going in. And that might be the difference in holding those fourth quarter leads. Dirk was only 3-10 from three, but those all came in the fourth and kept them in it. But a couple more defensive stops put this one away for the Jazz.

Complete Box Score

We had a row of die-hard Dallas fans in front of us who couldn’t get out of there fast enough with about 1:30 left. They were pretty cordial (they had kids with) and Jazz fans didn’t have too much to say except when Nowitski had a couple late-game turnovers, a small chant of MVP! MVP! broke out. But the best part was when the Dallas couple’s 3-year old daughter started cheering for the Jazz. The wife literally had to cover the little girl’s mouth because her father was getting angry. I wish I would have had a small Jazz ball or something to give her. Tell me how you’re going to take something like that away from a little girl? Maybe that should be the new strategy. When opponent’s fans come in the door with kids, instruct the ushers at the door to give them a little Jazz memorabilia.

We also had a Julianne and Derek Hough sighting from Dancing with the Stars. How would it be to be able to score court-side tickets like that? And even though we’ll give Julianne a free pass, I guarantee Derek is not a fan. If he could name to players I would be surprised. And in the AP caption, Julianne gets mislabeled as Jennie Garth. Is that a good or bad thing?

So even with their amazingly poor play, the Jazz are still only 2 games out in the division. And it’s taken 11 wins in a row for the Trail Blazers to overtake the Jazz. The new media darlings have been impressive. I have to admit I didn’t think they would be much of a threat this year, but Roy is really having an MVP stretch. What kind of pace will they keep up? Who knows. But their zone D looks really good. So you’re going to have to beat that first if you want to beat them. It’s not going to be the walk everyone thought it was going to be.

But if you ever need to pull out a win for your team, just come down with the stomach flu and head on over to the ESA.

Continuing “the no particular order” stories of the year…

On the 3rd day of Christmas the Utah Jazz gave to me…

New Jazz Prez

Now if this were in order of importance, this may have been #10 or maybe #17.  But because one of my original stories I thought happened in ‘07 happened in ‘06, I had to scrounge to find something.  And because I saw him at the Revue and had unknown photographic knowledge with him, Randy Rigby (man in the middle [not that way], blue tie) lands on the list.

He became Prez after Dennis Haslam stepped down to “pursue other interests.”  And of course it was a great big bawl-fest will LHM leading the way.

This note from the artcile was interesting:

Rigby has served as executive director of the Jazz 100 Club, an exclusive private group made up of local area leaders and business people with an interest in the success of the Jazz.

Is this like the Pentaverite?  It looks like Jim Olson is now the leader of this group.  I want names…  What other controlling influence does this group have?

I think this will become my New Year’s resolution for basketballjohn.com, to get to the bottom (or top) of the organization.  So if I go missing, someone send this post out to the police.  Well, wait at least a couple weeks, I may have gotten lazy.

Build lead in third, turnover the ball and miss free-throws in the fourth, rinse & repeat.  That’s all I have to say for the two weeks.  Oh, and I forgot about strategy of play poor against the zone and foul on defense.

You’ve seen it a hundred times in movies.  An airplane is in a nosedive and heading for a mountain.  All seems lost until someone steps in and pulls hard on the controls and pulls them out of it.  My question is who is that guy for the Jazz?  We’re two losses away from crashing and burning.  And going up against Orlando and Miami next, it could well happen.

Tell me who the leaders are on this team?  Williams and Deron claim to be.  And they very well may be the only leaders, but I haven’t seen anything yet that tells me that they have everyone behind them.

Where are all the crafty veteran moves that are so famous in the NBA?  When you are up double-digits and all of the sudden the momentum is shifting, it’s the veteran leader that steps up and gets points no matter what the cost.  They get to the line, they find the open man, and they silence the crowd.

And as much as it pains me to say it, but losing Fisher has taken a much bigger toll than I thought it would.  Maybe there’s something to this veteran leadership thing.  Boozer and Williams have claimed the position but I don’t know if they’ve earned it.

We all know though that if Fisher were here he would still be starting.  But would having Brewer coming off the bench be such a bad thing this year?  Not if you look at how poorly they have performed. 

The big story of course is Giricek’s fight with Sloan which led to the inevitable banishment.  In what was likely Gordan’s last game as a Jazzman, he was booted to the locker room after drawing Sloan’s ire for some unknown reason.  He was then told that he wouldn’t be with the team for the remaining two games of this trip.  So likely we will see him shipped off and get almost nothing in return.  Because so much goes on in the locker room and behind closed doors, it’s hard to say how Gordan fit in with the rest of the team as a teammate.  But outside of Okur, it didn’t seem like he was friends with anyone else.

I don’t know if we have anyone on the team right now that can pull the Jazz out of this horrendous slump.  So should Giri get traded, let’s hope it brings in a vet that can show the others the way.